I’m always on the lookout for autism related websites, organizations, groups, you name it.  Can never have too much information or support right? As I was looking over the site I hit upon their blog and their recent blog post titles caught my attention. They covered everything from clay to rewards including teaching your child to understand emotions, life skills – how to teach your child to wash his hands properly  (we are still working on that one), how to use picture cue cards to read and even what the best dog for your child with autism is.

They cover the different types of Autism (in case you are wondering what the differences are) including:

• Asperger Disorder
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
• Classic Autism
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder
• Retts Syndrome

As well as provide information on Attention Deficit Disorder, how Autism is diagnosed, what high functioning, mild and severe Autism are, motor and sensory disorders and sensory processing disorder (as many children with Autism also have these disorders).  So much information for all those questions you’ve got.

• What causes it?
• What are the facts?
• What do you do after you get a diagnosis of Autism?
• And so many more questions.

First and foremost you need to surround yourself with others who understand what you’re going through, who can relate to what you are feeling and can help you find and understand the answers to all your questions. A community of support for those of us raising and loving our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, cousins or friends with Autism and bringing Autism awareness to the world, that’s AutismUnited.org.  Find them on facebook and join them http://www.facebook.com/theautismunited

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but as you know, bringing Autism awareness to the front is very important to me and my family as Autism is a part of our lives as well.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Oh boy it’s the end of January the first month of the new year and I’ve done it already. I’ve gone and over-extended myself.  Why can’t I just say, no?  I know I should. I know I have a billion and one things to do already but when someone asks me for something or help to get something done I can never say no.

I drive myself nuts and I really wanted to make this the year I don’t over-extend myself and already I’ve blown that one.  Now, what do I do?  Do I just keep traveling down this all too familiar road? How do I get off it?

I find myself working really early in the morning and way too late at night. Which works great as I don’t have to work when the kids get home from school but boy that makes for one tired mommy.  And tired mommy is sometimes a cranky mommy and cranky mommy is no fun.

I’ve got my first Blissdom conference coming up in just a few short weeks and while yes, I’m stressing about what to wear, missing my hubby and kids like crazy, but to be honest with you, I am really looking forward to the break.  Not taking work with me or at least I’m hoping not to.  Just a couple of days for me to recharge.  How about you, do you over extend yourself?  How do you pull yourself out of it?  And how do you recharge if you can?

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I got to spend four and a half hours with my grandma on Sunday.  It was a quick flight in, visit and then back to the airport for my flight home but I feel so much better having seen her for myself and not just relying on others interpretation of how she was.  She’s not great no, but she’s ok and I really believe she’s going to be okay.

Princess, Buggy and hubby wanted to come with me but I just wasn’t sure so they stayed home.  But princess did send grandma a gift.  “Can you take this to great-grandma so she can get better?”  It was this cute little brown and white stuffed puppy:

Isn’t he just adorable? He was my traveling buddy too as this was my first trip away from my kids and hubby even if it was just a day trip. It’s prepping me for next month’s trip to Nashville for Blissdom.

You should have seen grandma’s face when she saw that stuffed puppy.  Her eyes just lit up and she smiled so big.  It was such a kind gesture from my little one and it is bringing my grandma so much joy. She kept stroking it’s soft fur and repositioning it so she could see it’s big black eyes and every look brought another smile to her face.  It was priceless.  What joy from the gift of a child to her great grandma.

It was a wonderful and heartbreaking visit.  So hard to see her hurt and in a strange place.  She seemed to remember me and when asked if she knew who I was she responded that she did.  I showed her our family photos, she smiled and seemed to recognize us in the photo and commented on how pretty we all were.  She’d look up at me and smile, that same smile she always did, with lots of love behind it.  She’s lost a lot of weight and doesn’t exactly look how I remember. The blonde hair is now white.  The strong husky woman is much more fraile and thin now.  All this in just a matter of weeks. But one thing hasn’t changed. She’s always been a strong willed, strong minded, feisty woman and that she still is.  I’m hoping to visit with the family again soon cause seeing the kids would make her happy.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Got a call last night, my grandma is in the hospital. I’m 300 miles away and I just feel numb. I’m fine for a bit then then lose it and cry then I’m ok again for a little while then I cry some more. I hate being so far away from her especially now.  I’ve been sitting here all day trying to make myself do something, think, get up and move, something, anything but I just can’t. I just want to hold her hand.  She’s afraid and she’s hurt. She doesn’t know who anyone is anymore, what time of day it is or where she is.  She’s just scared being in the hospital. Strangers all around her even though those who love her and wish she could remember are right there by her bed side.  I just want to hold her hand.

I’m so grateful my dad and mom can be there for her. They can hold her hand, they can rub her feet. They can feed her. They can do everything I wish I was there doing. They can tell her how much I love her but it’s not the same. I want to hold her hand. I want to be the one who is there to help calm her fears.  I want to be able to tell her I love her. Will she remember me? Probably not but that’s okay. I just need to be near her. I need to hold her hand.

She needs to be cared for and that means a nursing home after she leaves the hospital in a day or so.  It breaks my heart to know she’ll never return to her home, her safe place. But I know this is best for her well being. She can’t be at home anymore, she just can’t. I worry, will she be able to adjust, will she be taken care of well enough. I can’t be there everyday to go see her. I don’t want her to be alone. I don’t want her to be scared.  I know dad and mom will be there everyday to see her, I know they will but I also know what a toll this will take on them.  Just let her find peace, somewhere in her mind, a time when she was happy and all in her world was peaceful, let her live in that happiness for the rest of her time here with us.

I love you with all my heart grandma. Te amo con todo mi corazon abuelita.

Grandma and I on my wedding day.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Do you open up more around other special needs mommies and dads? I don’t often share too much of my life and the things going on it in. That is of course, unless you happen to be at the therapists’ office.  Then it just seems to flow right out of me.  I talk about the last or upcoming ARD.  I talk about what’s in the IEP and how it’s written. I talk about the meltdown or stress or the exciting new thing my kiddo said or did.

I talk and talk and talk . . . .

My husband even pointed that out to me when we were at the therapists office waiting for our kiddo.  He’s like man you talk a lot when you aren’t home.

The fact that I work at home and don’t have but maybe one offline friend who lives fairly close isn’t really the reason though.

I mean, there’s something that gets rid of the fear, something that connects me to these moms and dads.  Is it because we both have children with special needs?  Yes, it probably is.  Why?  Because they can relate to what I’m going through, they can celebrate with me the little accomplishments because they do that when their children get those too.

We provide information for one another. What happened at your ARD meeting may be an issue at mine. Or maybe something that happened at mine can help you. Or maybe you know something I didn’t know of  or have ideas for therapy to do at home that I hadn’t thought of. A book recommendation, a doctor’s name, an idea, a food to try, something, anything.  We get frustrated and vent to each other, we celebrate our kid’s little victories, we support each other and offer to help when and however we can even if only a listening ear.

I may have just met them but when you hear us talk you’d think we’ve known each other for years.  It’s a wonderful, beautiful community of  a very special life, unbounded examples of love and the strength not only of our children but ourselves we share.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I mentioned before how much I love taking pictures but have been shy about sharing them and how one of my goals for this year is to do a 365 project.  You know the one where you post a photo a day for one full year.  Well, I’ve started it and wanted to give you the link and personally invite you to come over and keep up with what I’m doing and how I’m doing on my 365 project.

Here’s the page for you:  http://www.photographybynan.com  You can even subscribe and get each days’ photo in your inbox or if you are a big facebook fan, there’s a fan page set up too: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-By-Nan/146815078763105

Here’s a sneak peek from one of my favorites from this week.

Stop by and tell me which one you liked from my first week.  I’d love to know what you think. One thing I’ve notice is I really like taking photos at night.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Today as I dropped the kids off at school, Bug asked me to come have lunch with him.  Unfortunately I knew my work load for today was going to be a bit overwhelming and I told him I couldn’t but I’d try tomorrow.

Needless to say I felt horrible and he was sad. I hate disappointing my kids. Why is it so easy to just let work take over your daily schedule?  It can become so out of control so easily without boundaries.

I know I can’t be everywhere at once and I can’t do everything or say yes every time but when I can even if it means I have to work at little harder or a little faster or juggle my time to make time for family I should and I will.

Today I made a conscious choice and chose family over work and I’ll tell you one thing I am so happy I did.  Yes, I got my work done anyway just had to rearrange my time a little bit. But that huge smile, that hug, that “you’re going to have lunch with me, you can stay?” line and smile was worth any amount of rescheduling. Today was a good day!

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

We are just a few short days away from 2012. Wow, can you believe another year has gone by already?  2011 had some bumps in the road and I am really looking forward to 2012 and hoping it will be different. Have you thought about what you want or are planning to work towards in 2012?

I’m all about setting goals, realistic goals I know I can reach even if I have to take them in bite size pieces throughout the year. I’ve come up with a couple of goals so far for me personally. I have others for my business, health, etc that I am working on too.  I want to share my goals with you.  Last year, I made a vision board and it has been hanging over my desk for the past year.  As I look at it today a year later, I see I have reached some of my goals but not all.  This year I think I will be making fewer more direct goals. Not so general this time maybe eve a time frame for reaching them so I can keep myself on track.

I’ve added a personal goal this time, most times  I tend to stick to business and family goals.  I want to share my love of photography this year.  I want to use my digital camera more often if not daily.  That’s my big one for me.  I’m hoping to either add it to this blog or create one just for my photos.  I’ve always loved taking pictures but just haven’t had the courage to share them so once again I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and hoping you’ll help me stay accountable to accomplish this goal of mine this year.

Do you have any personal just for you goals for the coming year?

© 2011, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.